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In 1845, Father Luís de Sousa Couto lived in Porto. He was over sixty, suffered from gout and was kind. At the Misericórdia, he worked with old and difficult documents. That work paid eight tostões, or 800 réis, a day. Luís lived on little money and accepted no donations. Despite his simple life, he was an important Miguelist adviser in the North. Ribeiro Saraiva wrote to him from London, and Dom Miguel also wrote to him.
On the evening of 15 May, Luís was writing a letter to London. At that moment, Father Bernardo Rocha arrived to speak to him. Rocha affirmed his loyalty and asked for a truthful answer.
Rocha asked whether Dom Miguel was in Portugal. Luís answered clearly that he was not in the country. According to Luís, Dom Miguel had been in Italy fifteen days earlier. Then Luís showed a genuine letter signed by Dom Miguel. The letter was dated 1 May. Bezerra de Barrimau and other men from Braga had asked the same question. Luís explained that some priests were spreading a rumour across the Upper Minho. The rumour said that Dom Miguel was in Póvoa de Lanhoso. In Luís's view, the rumour could alarm the government or deceive people.
Rocha said that someone truly meant to deceive Cerveira Lobo. Cerveira had received a forged letter attributed to Dom Miguel. The letter asked him for a loan of exactly three contos. Cerveira still had that money and planned to take it the following Saturday. Luís said that this loss and disgrace had to be prevented. Rocha needed that certainty before approaching the civil governor. Luís had also heard about another scheme by the impostor. Some wealthy women named Botelhas had sent a large sum. An abbot had taken that sum to a supposed hidden Dom Miguel. Luís did not know whether the abbot was a thief or merely a fool. He therefore asked Rocha to help bring the impostor to justice.
Luís then returned to his political correspondence with London.
In Braga, the acting civil governor was called Marques Murta. He was standing in for Councillor João Elias and received Rocha in his office. Rocha told him everything and requested an arrest before Saturday. Murta joked about the idea of waiting for the three contos. In the joke, the money would go into the district treasury. Rocha did not understand the irony and became even more worried. Murta promised that, if the man was in Calvos, he would be arrested the next day.
At midnight, an escort from the 8th Infantry left the Pópulo barracks. The guide knew the ways around the abbot's house well. In 1834, he had belonged to a gang of thieves from the area. Now this former thief worked for the secret police. The escort reached São Gens as dawn was breaking. The soldiers surrounded the house and struck the door hard. They also shouted that they would break the door down.
Abbot Marcos saw armed soldiers and ran barefoot to his guest. Veríssimo was putting on his trousers almost in the dark and struggling to breathe. The abbot called him Your Majesty and told him to flee to the cellar. Inside the house, women, dogs and pigs made an enormous commotion. Two workers, unaware of the secret, hid in the hay.
The abbot and a maid took Veríssimo to the cellar. In the cellar, there were two empty casks beside a wall. Veríssimo hid in the narrow space behind those casks. He remained in the dark, among cobwebs and the sounds of rats.
Meanwhile, Sergeant Pílula and three soldiers searched the rooms. Pílula asked for the king and some bottles of gin. The abbot replied that he could only produce the king of hearts. Soldier 24 suggested kicking the priest. Pílula preferred to continue the search without those kicks. The sergeant ordered the abbot to open the cellar.
The maid pretended to look for the key very slowly. Pílula threatened to break the door down with an axe. The abbot then produced the key and opened the door. At the dark entrance, Pílula spoke of a throne room. He also compared the cellar to a prison of the Inquisition. Senhorinha brought a small light, but the cellar remained dark. Pílula told Soldier 14 to find a better light.
The soldiers knocked on the casks and heard muffled sounds. Soldier 14 mocked the abbot and his wine. Then Soldier 24 heard movement behind the empty casks. The very nervous abbot said that the noise came from rats. Pílula ordered Soldier 24 to use his bayonet. When the bayonet scraped the wall, Senhorinha screamed and fainted. The soldier stopped for a moment to look at her. The abbot tried to convince the soldiers that there was nothing there. However, Pílula told the soldier to continue the search.
The bayonets touched a hidden body but did not wound him. Veríssimo tried to climb up, and his bearded head appeared above a cask. Pílula called him Dom Miguel, but he spoke in a mocking tone. The sergeant also called the top of the cask a throne. Soldiers 24 and 14 made jokes about the great beard. Pílula then ordered Veríssimo to come down without fear. He also said that the man was under arrest by order of the civil governor. The abbot still tried to defend the man with folded hands. Pílula stated explicitly that the man was not Dom Miguel. According to the sergeant, he was an impostor who was deceiving the abbot.
Veríssimo went to dress with guards watching him throughout. The abbot pointed out the Botelhas money in the pockets of his coat. Veríssimo therefore put on the coat with that sum in its pockets.
In the room, Pílula found several papers on the table. Among them was a false register of honours granted by the supposed king. In the register, Marcos António de Faria Rebelo was the abbot of São Gens de Calvos. The paper called him the king's chief chaplain and Dom Prior of Guimarães. Pílula read those titles aloud and laughed at the abbot. The next line read Torcato Munes Elias, Viscount of São Gens. The same paper made him the king's private secretary. Pílula recognised the name as that of Torcato Nunes Elias from Braga. The sergeant rolled up the false papers and took them with him.
Outside the gate, the soldiers formed the escort around Veríssimo. The prisoner left with the Botelhas money still in his coat. The abbot, the cook and another maid remained behind in tears. The villagers watched the departure from a distance, in fear.
Torcato Nunes Elias's wife woke him with the news. Nunes ran to the residence after the escort had departed. He asked the abbot whether the supposed king had taken the Botelhas coins. The abbot confirmed that he had taken those gold coins. Nunes asked the abbot to lend him half a moeda. He said that he had no money and would go to Braga in disguise. The abbot warned Nunes that he too might be arrested. Nunes remained free and penniless, but answered with theatrical loyalty. Nunes declared that he would follow the supposed king's fate until death.